Pentagon issues new limits on transgender troops

14th March, 2019 11:29:24

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon announced Wednesday a new policy that will bar enlistment of new recruits who have undergone a gender transition or intend to do so, and require most individuals to serve in their birth sex, reports AFP.

Under President Donald Trump’s new rules, set to go into effect on April 12 after the Supreme Court allowed them to go forward, only transgender troops serving in their birth gender will be able to stay in the military after that date, and they will be barred from taking hormones or getting transition surgery.

The move was a reversal from a policy enacted under Trump’s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, who allowed military recruits to serve in their preferred sex rather than just the one they were assigned at birth.